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Sunday, August 27, 2006

When Rajaji got held up by a rail gateman

Rajaji, as the Governor-General Of India, was on his way to attend a function on the outskirts of New Delhi. There were no security guards as we see today provided for VVIPs, much less ,the carcade. President Sarvepalli Radhkrishnan, during his Mysore visits, used to mix freely with us, journalists. Smt Indira Gandhi used to crack jokes with us and no visit of Smt Gandhi was complete without having a group photo with scribes.

On one occasion at Mandakalli air-strip we had the group photo and it so happened that I was partially obstructing her from facing the camera directly. Quick came the remark from Smt Gandhi “ It is always the problem we face with six footers”. “Is it wrong to be born as a six-footer, Madam ?” I turned back and asked, “ Some times” , she quipped amidst allround laughter.

Well, coming back to the Rajaji incident, it so happened that at a railway crossing on the way the gate was found closed as a train was about to pass through. On learning that the train would take some time in coming, a senior official accompanying Rajaji approached the gateman and told him that it was the Governor General who was in the car. If the railway gates could be opened for a few moments, the country’s first citizen could reach the venue on time. It was reported that the gate man politely replied that there could not be two sets of rules, one for the “ big men and another for the rest of us”. As it turned out, Rajaji had to wait for the train to pass through before he could proceed for his function.

Rajaji ,who came to know all that was going on at the gate, asked the official to find out the name of the gateman.The very next day Rajaji wrote a letter to the Home Ministry commending the gateman’s devotion to duty and recommended to honour him with a suitable reward.

My thoughts went back to 1950s , as I was going through a recent media report (Aug 19), which referred to the shifting of a conscientious Karnataka's IAS officer V P Baligar from the post of principal secretary, Department of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development. The news as such did not come as a surprise to me, for there were reports earlier that Mr Baligar had refused to bend rules as some BJP MLAs wanted him to so as to accommodate their interests. These legislators and the officer were at logger heads and they were bringing pressure on Chief Minister to replace him. Mr Baligar had to pay the price, with his transfer, for retruning a file sent to him for action by Mr Udasi, Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development. Mr Udasi is no Rajaji.

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9 Comments:

  • This one is a Nehru story I heard from a government photographer, Kundanlal ('Chachaji' to colleagues and his friends), who did much VIP coverage in the 40- 60s. Once, deputed to cover Nehru's airport arrival from somewhere, 'Chachaji' sought to take a close-shot of the PM. The bright flash of light and a mildly exploding sound of Chacha's flash bulb was irriating Nehru.In a reflex action he swiped the baton that Nehru usually carried, but missed Kundanlal.
    The photographer, sensing trouble, backed out and started swiftly moving out of VIP's sight, only to find Nehru chasing him with his baton all over the tarmac. But then, it was clear to onlookers that it was a mock show. Nehru's irritation didn't last more than a moment. He liked play-acting with Chacha, whom he knew too well, for too long.

    By Blogger GVK, at 8:46 PM  

  • During my student daus dates back to 60..70s ,one Ncc cadet who was on duty near Old Exihibition gate was slapped by a very responsible minister of Karnataka for having asked to show Pass or ticket.
    Services of NCC was withdrawn with immediate effect.
    2) Mr.Krishna was D.C.Cultural activities were going on at Crawford hall.Mariputtannaiah was in charge (Dep.of Inf and Pub)
    When he was asked to produce pass or invitation by one of
    the voluntiers who were posted for house keeping (all unemployed Engineers) the voluntier was
    pushed with slang language by this chief guest.
    All these cannot be Rajajis.

    Krishnavattam is a very senior journalist and knowledgeable person
    and let many suchthings be highlited.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:40 PM  

  • Welcome aboard , Mr. Vattam!

    You have a wealth of information stored over years of work and such anecdotes are rare nuggets and provide insights in to the persona of famous people.

    I would like to hear more often about your experiences. Thanks!

    By Blogger ER Ramachandran, at 5:11 AM  

  • True we need people like Rajaji. I remember till very recently say upto mid 80's people at the helm of power, would move around incognito. I very well remember Devaraj Urs, K.H.Patil, Gundu Rao, Jaffer Sharief. All these and many more would come to our house, have food and I have been a driver to them with my dad K.S.Suryanarayana Rao travelling a lot and meeting just about anybody and get feedback on policies and programmes of the govt.

    The situation changed drastically from around late 80's. Now, the less said the better. We definitely need visionaries like Rajaji. Closer home we had F.K.Irani, Jayadevraje Urs and the likes whose vision was Mysore and Mysore alone. They had no personal reasons in whatever they were doing. They were all so down to earth, meeting and mingling with 'aam janatha'

    By Blogger shanks, at 2:20 AM  

  • This is not the first time Baligar has been transferred. There have been other honest officers who have been "punished" by our corrupt nethas. We all know this. But why do we not take at least one case to the logical conclusion?

    While I write this, I am as guilty as any one else? With the help of MGP I should have done that at least once. I do not know why?

    At least the press whose job it is could have done. They have far more resources than most of us. Perhaps Krishna vattam may be able to throw light on this topic.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:20 AM  

  • Welcome, Vattam Sir,

    I know the abundant stock you have. Kindly share.

    seena

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:23 AM  

  • There used to be a lesson in the English text for SSLC "Good bricks" by Rajaji. Can some one let me know the source or get me the text of it.
    I am at (vrp44y@yahoo.com)

    By Blogger Dr V Ramaprasad, at 8:42 PM  

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